Some random thoughts from Tim Dyson, the CEO of Next Fifteen. Next Fifteen is the parent company of Silicon Valley's most powerful technology PR firms: Bite Communications, OutCast Communications and Text 100. They're also parent to some of Europe's hot consumer PR and Research agencies such as Lexis and RedShift.

Monday, January 05, 2009

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

I'm referring here to Steve Jobs, who today disclosed he has a health issue that they believe they now have sorted out. This health issue has caused his obvious weight loss. The disclosure, a day before he was originally scheduled to do the MacWorld keynote seems an odd piece of communications. It seems odd that he waited until now to disclose the illness given all the speculation that has been going on and the assumptions that his cancer had returned. It seems odd that he didn't say he had just learned of the hormone imbalance that is hopefully the cause of his illness. It seems odd that he disclosed the details solely in writing rather than granting an interview (that said I'm glad Barbara Walters wasn't the one breaking the news).

I truly hope Steve is now going to be 100% healthy and well. What he has done for Apple since his return is quite remarkable and will likely be the basis of many an MBA thesis for decades to come. But his communication on his health has been a comms person's nightmare. I fully appreciate that his health is a personal matter but Steve is Apple to many people (as the stock price has shown). I only hope the comms nightmare is now over and Apple can get back to doing what they do so very well - launching great new products. I for one will be watching MacWorld with interest, even if Steve is not delivering the keynote.

Social Media Tracker

About Me

Tim is CEO of Next Fifteen, a publicly traded group of PR businesses that has over 800 consultants worldwide. He joined the Company in 1984 and became its global CEO in 1992. As one of the early pioneers of tech PR, he has worked on major corporate and product campaigns with such companies as Microsoft, IBM, Sun and Intel. Tim came out from London to set up the Group's first US business in 1995 in Seattle and is now based in Palo Alto. Outside Next Fifteen, Tim is also on the advisory boards of several technology start ups.